Of Our Kind
by Maige
Summary: We bring from the depths our monsters that we spawned. If we go too far, we might become one of them. Hetero Mapletea


Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia

As I wait to see if people believe Shag Tag should be continued (if that will happen...it's not going too well so far)...I introduce to you..._more shit for your un-enjoyment~!_ Timmies Iced Capp's and Maple Dip's for all, apologizes for dragging you further into more boredom. |D

This shall be one of the many 'side projects', like _Of the Other Type_, I'll be working on, whenever I don't feel that I should continue the main one I'm working on. Besides, my horror one-shots seem to be getting more reviews than my others... - x -

Horrible horrors of horror aho~!

P.S. This is going to be written in the same style of _The New Craze. _Arthur's POV, conversing with people whose speech we won't see. Kind of a sister fanfic to that one, I guess.

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><p>When I first agreed to court Madeline, he had the same view of her that was common with the rest of the nations: a timid, terribly soft-spoken girl, one that didn't stand out too much, yet she was a wonderful little angel, one that would do anything to help any person in need, whether it was an emergency or the smallest plight. This was, undoubtedly, was really got me to say <em>yes.<em>

This opinion stayed strong throughout the weeks that followed...until, not two months later, I began to feel that not all was right with the Canadian.

Mind you, you two, before I go any further, that I must know if either of you will call me as insane after I tell my tale. I will not bother to continue with my tale if you both eventually consider that a loony bin will be the means of a better home for my old bones.

Right. I guess I have no choice but to trust your word for it...Frankly, I have no one else to tell this too. And you too are the closest nations to Madeline...well, other than a few choice others.

What about you, Alfred? Alright? Okay...here goes nothing.

As I was saying, I was beginning to feel the faint traces of doubt in Madeline. It really started when the dear girl, well, we were sitting sitting at her kitchen table when she nonchalantly spoke about a piece of news about her home.

She told me that there were about how, on the shores of her most Western province, there were severed feet washing up onto the beaches. According to her, the mysterious occurrence had been been going on for quite a while -

Hmph. So you _so _politely asked, I know it isn't that traumatizing of news, but it was just the way that Madeline said it...the expression that had laid across her porcelain features as she spoke, the way her lips curled back up and down, as if she wasn't sure of what emotion should go with her speech.

And how did I reply? Well, of course I went the polite route, and simply asked if they had any suspicions of what was going on.

She did not answer right away. Instead, the Canadian hunched herself over in a ghastly way, her face darkening over in a way I never seen it do before, and she tightened her grip on the cup of tea in her hands, to tightly that her grip began to shake and a few droplets of the liquid flew overboard.

Oddly enough, this caused Maddie to come back to life. She looked at me queerly for a moment, the look on her face that of one who was abruptly woken from a terrifyingly realistic dream.

The lass then apologized for spacing out and mopped up the splashlets of tea.

We didn't talk about it after. Or ever again, in fact. She never mentioned the thing about the feet for the rest of our relationship, though I did happen to catch something about it on her news at one time.

Will you both shush? I know that the two of you want to know what happened, but you must let me get through the whole thing. I know that it must be infuriating that I'm not getting to the point, but please. Just for now, keep your patience with you.

The next clue came when Madeline invited me to go camping with her. I know, I know, no one can imagine me out and about in the wilderness.

But, it was an opportunity to be alone with Maddie for a weekend, without any of the rush of being a nation, and I would have been a fool not to accept the invitation.

I see that look you're giving me, frog. I'm not blind, you know. Yes, most of my agreeing to accompanying her to the woods of British Columbia was because of personal reasons - this was now four months after we became a couple, and we hadn't, pardon my language, shagged yet. Doing such things in a forest is, obviously, not too appealing, but when you were sexually repressed for weeks upon weeks, anything would do.

We took the long drive, from Ontario to B.C, without any trouble, and made camp in the middle of one of the many forests of her land.

All was going rather well until nightfall came. Our conversation...the things we didn't see but heard...it still haunts me to this very day.

Madeline lit a campfire, with the ease of one who has been doing this for years (which she undoubtedly has) and we sat beside each other near it, trying to find warmth from the suddenly frigid, whipping Northern wind. It was a perfect scene...we were both content in the heavenly atmosphere, and the doubts that had been coursing through my skull immediately vanished.

Until I looked up.

At first, I had meant to take an admiring view of the stars (it really is amazing how many you can see when you're off from civilization; I actually quite miss seeing the clear night sky), but, amidst the startlingly bright lights of the heavens was another, artificial light, one that was slowly moving in a Northern fashion.

I know what you're thinking - it was just a plane. Nothing to lose your knickers about. But this _plane, _as I was watching it, turned in a sharp angle, so fast that it couldn't have been a plane. After it turned, three more lights flashed into life on its body, blinking periodically.

Alien? Perhaps. I know that you have aliens, specifically that twit of a gray blob with no manners what-so-ever, but, whatever exterrestrial form that had taken its place in the sky gave me a much more uneased feeling. Even if it wasn't of alien craft, it still chilled me to the bone, despite the raving heat that was coming off the fire.

I called this to Madeline's attention, who followed my gaze with disintrest.

"Plane," she said a matter-of-factly, and then looked back down, obviously unfazed. Because of this, I decided to leave it alone, trying to convince myself that the Canadian was right.

There were more unsettling phenomenon that came after - noises in the depths of the dark trees surrounding us, noises that couldn't have belonged to any normal animal. They were too... malicious in their meaning, in the curious snaps of twigs that came, so close that I started with each sound.

Maddie, after the fifth or sixth time I jumped, did nothing more than pat me on the shoulder and tell me it was just the nocturnal wildlife coming out to say hello to each other; a peculiar sentiment that caught me off guard. She talked like a mother comforting her five-year old son.

And then...the strangest of them all, there was a sudden call. A bark, scream, caw, a sound that mixed with all of the gurgling calls of every animal in existence bounded out into the forest and echoed among the sinister trees. I jumped to my feet, hair standing on end from the blasphemous tremor.

"What...what in the bloody hell was that?" I asked, looking back and forth wildly in an attempt to find the creature that made the terrifying sound. It was...you know that I often dabble in such things like magick, and with this, I have met many, many mythical creatures, from innocent little faeries to terrible beasts of nightmares.

This thing...whatever it was...just from that one bark, I knew it wasn't like anything I had ever encountered in my time.

Hm? Oh, yes, sorry.

Madeline smiled gently in response, and then said, "I told you Arthur. It's just the nocturnal life. And maybe some other animals who got up for a midnight snack. Please - don't worry yourself. They won't come near us, they have their own little lives to go on about."

"Maddie," I said evenly enough, "As far I as know, there are no creatures that make sounds like that. I don't believe any of your wildlife - "

"How do you know?" Maddie interjected smoothly, her voice almost coming out as a purr. "Honestly Arthur, how many of the animals native to my land have you seen up close, other than Kumarie? And even then, Kumarie is nothing like a actual polar bear."

She had me there. I sat back down, deciding to trust Madeline...what else could I really do?

We retreated to the tent for bed, and I laid awake throughout the whole of the wretched night, plagued by screams and the voices of unknown terrors of the dusk.

The next day and night went on without a hitch, surprisingly enough, and as Monday rolled around we drove back to Ontario. Tuesday morning came and Maddie had to leave the house for the day, for that bloody Tulip Festival. You know the one...the damn festival that started because of that pedophile Netherlands. I tried talking her out of it, but there was no stopping the girl when it came to her few friends.

That day...was the day my doubts came back in the most terrible way possible.

I decided, by chance, to take a walk...there was nothing else to do, and there was nothing that needed my attention, so I left Madeline's house with Kumarie in tow (the polar bear had been left behind).

Oh...Oh, by all the Good God's, how I wish I never took that one, seemingly innocent walk.

We strolled through the area, Kumarie often questioning on who I was and where we were, until we came across a small tunnel, located squarely underneath a long bridge (a bridge which existence I have always questioned - it was just always there, out of the blue, with no traffic or river or anything underneath it, just more grass and dirt). Kumarie waddled her way over to the tunnel and poked her nose into it - only to immediately shrink back. A low growl, one that I had never heard from the ball of fluff before, came from her throat.

And I knew, _I just knew, _that something was there. Something that was not of human descent.

I took a couple of wary steps towards the blanked tunnel, moving more to retrieve Kumarie than anything else. I knew that if something happened to the bear, Madeline would have my head on a silver platter.

Then...something moved.

Something that was barely illuminated by the cloudy sky, something of skinny figure and grayed skin, short stature and long, spindly teeth that popped out from beyond the the abomination's upper lip. It's eyes glowed from within its shadowy confinements, orange and red and awful.

It stared at me with those demonic eyes, before uttering one single, shrill cry and retreating back into the tunnel, gibbering softly along the way.

I could have perhaps attempted to outrun it by going to the other end...but I didn't dare to do so.

Hm? Oh yes...tea would be lovely, thank you. I hadn't realized I even started to get the shakes.

Thank you very much, this is delicious, and certainly hits the spot...you two have been abnormally kind to me, and I thank you for keeping along with my story so far.

Now...after the encounter with the creature, I took Kumarie in my arms, who seemed just as shaken as me and made my way back to Madeline's house.

I had known then, as I walked, that whatever that thing is...and whatever those things in B.C. were...they were affecting Madeline.

In a way I wish I had never known.

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><p>...Yeah, now this is most likely going to spawn into a two-shot. Maybe.<p>

If anyone does bother to review: If you can guess what the thing Arthur encountered in the tunnel is, you win free virtual pancakes and cookies and all the like.


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